At 5 a.m.
the alarm sounds. Get up and jump into your running outfit, woman! Yup, she’s
going for a 10 km run. The sun isn’t even up yet, but she is going to do this.
A taxi is waiting for her at 5.30 a.m., taking her all the way to the east side
of the valley – university property. A lot of people are there – lines for the
portable rest rooms. My woman feels a bit nervous, but her goal is just to keep
on running and finish. Time is not important. At 6 a.m. – or just a bit before –
she can hear the countdown at the starting line. Time to start running! Most of
the course is downhill, which seems to make this run easy, but actually one has
to brake with every step. Don’t go too fast in the beginning– was my advice.
Many runners pass her in the first half, but later on she is the one who passes
the others. There are some women and men who are pushing a stroller where kids
are sitting in. There is a 89 year old guy, a 82 year old grandmother with
angel wings on her back… It’s just one mix of runners. Halfway she gets a cup
of water… that’s hard – keep on running and drink at the same time! Comes the
turn into the street where the parade will pass at 9 a.m. Here people on
blankets and in chairs are giving out high-5’s, cheering the runners…My woman
almost starts to cry…This is wonderful! What a great feeling! It doesn’t matter
if people know you are not! One mile before the finish another cup of water is
given. Then comes the turn into 700S street … the finish is slightly uphill and
the rays of the sun are now playing in my woman’s eyes. She’s speeding up a
little bit – yes, she still has some energy over! Then… the finish! She did it!
Euphoria! Smiles all around on every runner’s face. The oranges and bananas are
a welcome treat!
(the number
of my woman is 3363)
Now, she has to walk all the way back to the
hotel. Many runners are still on the course. When she finally enters the room I
give her a big high 5 paw! Awesome, woman! But now comes the soreness and
stiffness… The warm shower feels good on the legs, but we have no time to
dawdle. The parade will start and we still have to walk 7 blocks to get there.
My woman grabs breakfast at the hotel and off we are. We arrive at a spot next
to KSL 5 TV and we plunge down on the street. The parade is all about the
Mormon pioneers who came here in this valley in 1874. The president of the
Mormon Church, the mayor of Salt Lake City, a senator with his body guards,
floats from the University of Utah, from Brigham Young University, from
different stakes, high school bands,… it’s a long 2 hour show and sitting on
the street is not that comfortable (let’s try to lay down a bit…) – especially after
running 10 km and when the sun is starting to heat up.
When the show is finally
finished my woman walks to City Creek Shopping Center: the new shopping center
(from last year, but then she didn’t go there) is a jewel! During the day
walking starts to become more difficult and around 3 o’clock my woman decides
to go to the cool hotel room. Later that evening, on the news, she hears that
two women got abducted from the Mc. Donald’s – just around the corner. (They
got away near Park City…). What a strange world we live in!
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